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Autism Clues and Treatments May Be Revealed in the Gut

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by Carolyn Buchanan on July 09, 2013

Carolyn Buchanan

About the Author

B.C. (before children), Carolyn was trained as a journalist — a generalist journalist. Now as a parent, she experiences news differently. What was once an item of passing interest, i.e. "Toy Train Runs on Lead Paint" or "Midnight Release Planned for Latest Power Rangers Movie" now consumes her life. Still she trains her eye to find the family relevance in everything new, and that's what she endeavors to share with you here. As a parent, and a writer for What to Expect, she will be your family-news filter (with a personal twist).

About the Blog

WhatToExpect.com supports Word of Mom as a place to share stories and highlight the many perspectives and experiences of pregnancy and parenting. However, the opinions expressed in this section are those of individual writers and do not reflect the views of Heidi Murkoff of the What to Expect brand.

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Summary: New research suggests that the bacterial make-up in the gut of autistic children is lacking in diversity and may be a clue to the cause and treatment of the disorder.

One of the hottest topics in research today centers on the abundant bacterial flora present in every human gut. In a new, small study led by Rosa Krajmalnik-Brown of Arizona State University's (ASU) Biodesign Institute, researchers present the first comprehensive bacterial analysis focusing on bacteria in children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD).

"One of the reasons we started addressing this topic is the fact that autistic children have a lot of GI problems that can last into adulthood," Krajmalnik-Brown said in a ASU release. "Studies have shown that when we manage these problems, their behavior improves dramatically."

The group expected to find distinctive features in the intestinal microflora of autistic subjects compared to typical children. And their research did in fact reveal that children with autism had significantly fewer types of gut bacteria, which in turn could make them more vulnerable to pathogenic bacteria.

The causes of autism are still unknown, although there has been much research done in search of answers. Among the culprits, studies have suggested that hereditary components, Western-style diets, and overuse of antibiotics at an early age may be contributing to the problem by lowering the diversity of the gut microflora.

The ASU study looked at 20 non-autistic and 20 autistic children between ages 3 and 16 and anaylzed their gut microflora from fecal samples. They found that the children with autism had a lower diversity of gut microbes. Specifically, three bacterial genera — Prevotella, Coprococcus, and Veillonellaceae — were lower in children with autism when compared with samples from non-autistic children. The authors stress that bacterial richness and diversity are essential for fighting off environmental challenges. "We believe that a diverse gut is a healthy gut," Krajmalnik-Brown said.

Krajmalnik-Brown and colleagues suggest that the research could provide a diagnostic tool to pinpoint autism and as a guide to developing effective treatments for ASD-associated GI problems.

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